Xenonauts Rise
by PRAKNASTY
Summary: This story is a novelization of my own playthrough of the spiritual remake of "XCOM: UFO Defense" developed by Goldhawk Interactive entitled "Xenonauts". I own nothing from the game's plot, but I do own the personalities I give the soldiers. Will they rise to the occasion and save the human race? Or are they doomed for failure? Come and find out inside!
1. They're Back

**AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION!**

 **That's right guys, I'm back and this time with a fresh new story idea involving a different game than "XCOM". It's one involving the spiritual remake of the original "XCOM: UFO Defense" entitled "Xenonauts" by Goldhawk Interactive. I was reading a story on here by "The Xenonaut Project" by Captain Fumbles on the site that seemed really interesting and I was sad to see it hadn't been updated in almost two years. So I decided to take my own shot at it to see how well it would be received by the community.**

 **I'm playing this game moderately modded with the following mods being in use: Skitso's Map Pack, Larger Living Quarters, Reinforcements, Barley Troops, The_Horde, SteelGonads Names of the World, Better Foxtrot, Enhanced Crash Sites, Full Soviet Weapons Extension Pack, Geograhic Addition, Instant Grenades, Khall's More Portraits, Khall's Tundra Tileset, Random Map Pack Arctic Collection, Random Map Pack Desert Style, Random Map Pack Farm Edition, SteelGonads Soviet Names, SteelGonads Tuganames, and SteelGonads Yugonames. If you want to know what these mods do, look them up on the Steam workshop because that would make this an extremely lengthy chapter introduction.**

 **Without any further interruptions, let's begin the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: They're Back**

 _'It was a mistake to think that they would just leave us alone after the Iceland Incident back in '58 . Now they're back and the world isn't ready to fight them. We're the only ones capable of fighting back. It's time to defend our homes and keep the innocent safe. Let's lock and load!'_

These were the thoughts of the person known only as "The Commander". Nobody knew much about him and that's the way he liked it to be. He was in charge of the Xenonaut project which was initialized near the end of the 1950s after the Iceland Incident where all of the attackers of a joint NATO and Soviet taskforce were killed trying to secure a crashed UFO. The only survivors were the wounded that had been pulled off the battlefield prior to the final assault, and the command post where the leading NATO and Soviet officers were set up. The governments of the world had pooled their resources to found the Xenonaut project which was created with the sole purpose of defending against a possible alien invasion. The project was initially extensive with bases all over the world, however after over two decades of no contact all of the bases were shut down and dismantled save for one located on a small island that was just south of Greece technically owned by the United Arab Emirates. That particular base was chosen because it was not located in a country loyal to either NATO or the Soviet Union in a world still going through the Cold War.

The base aptly named "Sandtrap" was located on pretty much a desert island that experienced the same climate as the deserts located in Africa and the Middle East. The continuous budget costs had left the base on a skeleton crew of ten scientists, ten engineers, three pilots, two fighter crafts, one troop dropship, and a few analysts stationed throughout the various base facilities.

The Commander had been sitting down and enjoying a late evening drink when the television he was watching flashed a news headline showing various nations' air squadrons being destroyed by numerous UFOs that had made their presence known announcing the aliens intent to invade Earth for whatever reason. Knowing what this meant he made his way to his office to make requests for more equipment and he was sure that he'd receive no opposition this time around.

* * *

== Four Hours Later ==

Around 4 AM EST, the Commander had finally finished the last of the requisition forms he needed to fill out. He'd ordered for the construction of new facilities that would keep the engineers busy for awhile which included a second living quarters, a second radar array to extend their coverage of the skies, a missile battery to defend the base against a possible attack, and a medical center to help fix up any wounds the soldiers under his command would no doubt receive defending against this invasion. Speaking of soldiers he'd put in a request for five more so he'd have some more on standby in case his current group received any injuries. And to round it off he'd requested for five more scientists to help the ten already on staff that were working on compiling a detailed account of the alien invasion's first step twenty one years ago almost to the day.

He was preparing to take a nap, when his phone rang. This immediately got his attention as it was only connected to the base and not the outside world. Dreading what he was going to hear, he picked it up and answered.

"Go for The Commander." he greeted gruffly.

"Sorry for keeping you up this late sir, but the radar has picked up contact you better get down here." said a radar technician named O'Reilly who the base staff had taken to calling "Radar".

After taking a quick walk from his office, through the command center and over to the Radar Array he approached the screen that "Radar" was currently staring at. Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly was a very short individual only standing at 5' 5'', and weighing maybe 150 lbs, but he was the best radar worker the base had despite his young age of only 20. He was bespectacled wearing round frame brown glasses, with a small knit cap on his head which covered his curly red hair.

"Sorry for waking you sir. But as you can see the aliens have stumbled onto our hunting grounds." he said nervously as he indicated the screen showing the UFO flying over Northern Africa.

"Any idea on the UFO size or heading?"

"Appears to be a small UFO, heading to the East, and is approximately at an altitude of 1600 M, and is heading at approximately 1400 KM/H."

"How can you determine all of that Radar?"

"Trade secret, sir."

"Figures. All right, so first contact is on September 1, 1979 at approximately 4 AM EST. Dispatch Condor #1, callsign "Spitfire" and let's take them down."

"Understood sir." said Radar as he made his way over to the intercom to make the announcement.

"Ryan, we've got a bogey for you to chase down. Suit up and prepare for takeoff in five. Soldiers suit up and be ready to leave in under half an hour, Charlie-1 is in hangar one ready for launch."

"Now all we can do is sit back and wait for what's going to happen." said the Commander as the two watched the screen as the Condor piloted by Ryan Jensen chased the UFO down over Sudan and managed to down it in the middle of the desert a few kilometers south of Khartoum. With the location found out, the Commander gave the go-ahead for the squad to be deployed to the crash site. Less than ten minutes later the dropship was en route to secure the crashed UFO and the surrounding site.

* * *

== Three Hours Later ==

Charlie-1 was en route and preparing to touch down at the crash site where it's ten passengers would be disembarking to attempt to secure the first alien aircraft that was reasonably intact. Said passengers were all sitting in the back engrossed in their own conversations as they were heading towards their first combat against the extraterrestrial menace. The ten people were sitting with five people on each side of the dropship. Eight were sitting in between the aircraft's ramp, and the side exit doors across from one another in their own groups of four, while the other two members were sitting behind the side doors and against the wall separating the cockpit from the area they were at across from each other.

Among the ten soldiers, there existed five class designations that were represented by at least one soldier. The first class was the standard Rifleman class, these individuals were equipped with an M16 assault rifle, which featured the ability to switch from semi-automatic fire to burst fire, a backpack containing a medical kit, and a Beretta 92SB semi-automatic pistol, and their belts were equipped with two rifle magazines, two pistol magazines, and two fragmentation. frag. grenades.

The second class was the Scout class, which were equipped with the same items as the Rifleman class, but the members of this class had higher mobility and agility than the Riflemen themselves.

The third class was the assault class which was equipped with a Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun, only a medical kit in their backpack, and they had four frag grenades, and two boxes of shotgun shells on their belts.

Class number four was the Heavy Weapons class which had the person carrying an FN MAG light machine gun, a medical kit in their backpack, and two machine gun magazines wrapped up on their belts.

The final class was the Sniper class which was equipped with a H & K MSG 90 sniper rifle, with one medical kit and a Beretta 92SB in their backpacks, with two frag grenades and two sniper rifle magazines on their belts.

Among this group of ten there were two Scouts, four Riflemen, one Assault, one Heavy Weapons, and two Snipers.

Starting from the right side of the dropship the soldiers in question were, Cpl. Cesar Martín, Cpl. Manuel Ruiz, Sgt. Alexis Martín, Cpl. Cian Fitzpatrick, and Cpl. Anna Rivera was the lone member in the back behind the side door.

Cpl. Cesar Martín was a thirty-five year old male from Chile that had been recruited out of the Comandos De Aviacíon (Airborne Commandos). He stood at 6' 1'' and had short brown hair that was trimmed down via buzzcut. He was one of the Scouts due to his high agility despite being the oldest soldier in the unit.

Cpl. Manuel Ruiz was twenty-two years old and from Argentina. He had been a member of the Comandos Anfibios, (Amphibious Commandos, their special forces), before he was recruited into the Xenonauts project. He stood at 6' 2'' and had medium length blonde hair that he parted right down the center of his scalp. He was the squad's Assault trooper as he had terrible accuracy, but made up for it with high mobility.

Sgt. Alexis Martín was the squad leader for the mission as he had the longest tenure with the Xenonauts project. He was also from Argentina and a member of the Comandos Anfibios, but served before Manuel joined them. Needless to say that the two were fast friends being from the same country and unit. Alexis was twenty nine years old, stood at 6' 2'', and had short brown hair, but thick sideburns that almost reached below his ears. He was also the leader of the Riflemen.

Cpl. Cian Fitzpatrick was as his name suggested from Ireland. He served previously in the Army Rangers Wing of the Irish army, and was a stereotypical Irish person. He loved to drink, had red hair, freckles all across his face, and was short standing only at 5' 11''. Needless to say he was called a Leprechaun a whole bunch by the squad. Cian was 27 years old, had his red hair trimmed down in a buzzcut, and was the second of the squad's Riflemen.

Cpl. Anna Rivera was the lone American member of the squad and served in the Airborne. She was twenty one years old making her the youngest in the squad, stood at 5' 7'', and had brown hair that was styled into a short bob with a part on the left side of her head. She was one of the squad's Snipers having the best accuracy in the entire unit.

The other five members sitting on the left side were in order: Cpl. Danijela Begovic, Cpl. Daniel Dixon, Cpl. Miyu Ikeda, Cpl. Andrey Androv, and Cpl. Rafael Brandis was the lone member sitting across from Rivera.

Cpl. Danijela Begovic was from Yugoslavia and was a part of the 32nd Marines known as the "Shadows" before joining the Xenonauts team. She was twenty seven years old, stood at 6' 0'' flat, and had her long brown hair pulled back into a braid with a purple ribbon attached to it at the bottom. Begovic was the other assigned Scout having the second highest mobility behind Cesar. Begovic was also carrying an AK-47 and a Makarov semi-automatic pistol as she was more accustomed to the Soviet made weapons than their NATO counterparts.

Cpl. Daniel Dixon was one of two soldiers in the squad whom had seen combat prior to this mission. Dixon himself was Australian and was a part of the Royal Australian Regiment that had seen action in Borneo against local militants. He was thirty one years old, stood at 6' 5'' and had muscles on top of muscles. He also possessed curly reddish-brown hair, and had a thick beard and moustache to match. Dixon was the perfect candidate for the Heavy Weapons class as he was by far the strongest soldier, and was also best friends with Fitzpatrick. The two were seen challenging each other to drinking contests all the time, which Dixon normally won thanks to his larger frame.

Cpl. Miyu Ikeda was the third and final female member of the squad and was from Japan where she served in the 1st Airborne Brigade. Ikeda was thirty five years old making her the same age as Cesar, stood at 5' 6'', and had her black hair stylized into a longer bob cut w/ her bangs parted across her forehead towards her right side. She was the third of the squad's Riflemen. Miyu was also very quiet and rarely talked with the others unless they asked her opinion on something.

Cpl. Andrey Androv was the other combat veteran in the squad and hailed from the Soviet Union where he was a part of their Airborne or VDV which saw combat in Ethiopia. Androv was 6' 3'', twenty seven years old, and had long messy brown hair with a matching thick moustache. Androv like Begovic was also utilizing the AK-47 and Makarov because he was more familiar with them due to his past combat experience and his distrust of the NATO-made weapons. He was the fourth and final member of the Riflemen.

The final member of the squad was Cpl. Rafael Brandis who hailed from Switzerland where he was in their AA division. (Not sure what this is, if anyone could let me know that'd be awesome.) Rafael is twenty-two years old, stands at 6' 0'', has short messy blonde hair and a light 5 o'clock shadow. He was the squad's other Sniper boasting the second best accuracy behind Rivera.

It was 7 AM EST on the dot, and Martín, (I'm referring to Alexis, Cesar will be called by his first name unless Alexis is not on the mission or killed), got the squad's attention by raising his hand for silence.

"Alright everyone this is it. The aliens are back, but this time we're prepared with better weapons and equipment so we should be able to kill them and send a message. I want all of you to remember your training and everyone should make it out of this alive. Good luck out there and Godspeed. Any questions?"

"Where are we heading?" asked Rivera.

"We're landing in the middle of the desert near no civilizations, so civilians shouldn't be encountered. If it moves kill it."

"Those are some orders I can get behind." replied Begovic.

"Any numbers on how many survived?" asked Cesar.

"Negative. So be prepared for anything I'm sure some died in the crash, but not sure how many were there to begin with."

"Why's Cian still asleep?" asked Miyu in her quiet and mouse-like voice.

"Is he?!" asked Martín as he looked to his left and sure enough the Irishman was still sleeping soundly as if nothing could awaken him.

"Oh I'll take that one. Me and Leprechaun over there went had a drinking contest and as you can see I won. He's still probably passed out." answered Dixon as the rest of the squad sweatdropped.

"How're we going to wake him up?" asked Ruiz.

"Like this." said Dixon as he looked at Fitzpatrick.

"Hey Leprechaun! The aliens are attacking!" shouted the Australian, as the Irishman quickly woke up and cocked his weapon, before grabbing his head from the pain of the hangover migraine that hit him full-force.

"Fuck you Dixon! How're you not plastered like me. You easily had at least twice as me?!"

"I'm just the better drinker Leprechaun."

"Why you tosspot!" exclaimed the Irishman as h again reached out to throttle Dixon, but fell over due to the hangover pain.

"These are the best NATO had to offer, may God have mercy on us all." said Androv as he looked on disgusted at the two's antics.

"Nobody asked your opinion Russkie." replied Dixon in an angered tone.

"What'd you just call me?" said Androv as he stood up as if to engage Dixon in an altercation which caused Dixon to stand up as well. However, before either could make a move, Alexis and Rafael restrained them before they could kill each other.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm to hurt something, but turn it against the aliens and not each other!" scolded Martín.

"Yeah ain't you two heard the old proverb, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" asked Rafael to the two of them.

"Yeah and I believe that it is how you people call it bullshit!" replied Andrey.

"O well, I tried to play peacekeeper. You two can figure this out for yourselves." replied Rafael as he walked back to his seat.

"Really you aren't going to side with either one of us mate?" asked Dixon.

"I'm from Switzerland, we're neutral with everyone." replied Rafael matter-of-factly as the lights changed from green to red signifying that they were preparing to land.

"Everyone lock and load, it's time to party!" said Alexis as the aircraft touched down and the ramp and doors opened as the soldiers got ready to face what was on the ground.

* * *

== On the Ground (7:05 AM EST) ==

It may have been early morning over on the Eastern shore of the United States, but in the Sudan it was the middle of the afternoon and the temperature was scorching hot reaching well up over 110 °F which had a majority of the squad sweating before even exiting the aircraft.

"Motherfucker this weather is killing me and we haven't even started moving yet." complained Begovic as she prepared to exit the craft.

"Shut it, and move!" exclaimed Martín as both she and Cesar advanced forward into the desert. She found some cover behind a pile of rocks directly in front of the ramp, while Cesar was to her right behind a cactus of all things. She looked to her left and saw nothing but sand and looked back to her right to see a hail of plasma land just to the right of Cesar's position.

"Contact!" he shouted as she looked over his now kneeling figure to see a lizard like creature that easily towered over Dixon who was already a big man. It held what looked like a plasma rifle and stood on two legs as it fired once more at Cesar and missed melting the cactus behind him. She tried assisting him, but her shot landed wide right as the AK wasn't as accurate as it's M16 counterpart.

"Laying down suppressive fire!" shouted Cesar as he unloaded a three round burst from his M16 that hit the lizard creature once in the chest leaving a gaping hole as it screeched in pain.

"Somebody flank him!" he shouted as he lowered his rifle.

"I'm on it!" shouted Cian as he popped out of the dropship's right exit and posted up behind a small pile of rocks and against the side of the dropship. Despite the pounding headache, Cian managed to line up his rifle on the rock and stabilize it, before he launched two shots which both struck the lizard creature in its hole causing it to fall to the ground with purple blood flowing from it. Cian unleashed one more round into the creature's head to make sure it was dead.

"Enemy down!" shouted the Irishman as he clutched his pounding head.

With that said, Dixon and Ikeda rushed out and took cover behind two piles of rocks to Begovic's left with Dixon further away from her, while Rivera rushed out of the right door and ran to a large pile of rocks she could post up behind and had an open field of view of the right side of the desert.

* * *

Androv moved out through the left door, followed by Brandis as he took cover behind a small concrete structure that looked out of place for somewhere in the middle of the desert. Peeking around it, he spotted a humanoid like creature with grayish skin and was wearing a blue shirt that also possessed a plasma rifle similar to the lizard creature that was dead.

"Movement!" he shouted as his AK rattled off a shot that landed well short of the intended target. Brandis who was crouching out in the open also fired a shot, but the bullet struck just in front of the alien.

"Shit! I need to prop this up on something." he said as the alien fired a round that went over their heads and struck the top of the left door opening where Martín was standing in the doorway. He quickly kneeled down and rattled off two quick shots. The first sailed wide left, as the other landed right next to the alien's left foot. Sensing the danger, the alien ducked behind a giant rock structure that looked like a hill blocking him from their view.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ruiz had rushed passed the line established by Begovic and crouched down behind a small pile of rocks when he saw another of the blue-shirted gray aliens duck behind a cliff face as well. Raising his shotgun, he calmly waited for the alien to step back out.

His patience was rewarded as he leveled a blast that tore open the alien's abdomen, but that didn't stop the alien as it rushed forward and fired a blue burst of plasma into his right arm.

"AHHH! Fuck it burns!" he shouted as he dropped his shotgun and the alien raised its gun to fire again, but that was stopped as a shot rang out from behind him as the alien fell backwards with a bullet hole in its head courtesy of an M16.

"Nice shot Miyu!" commended Dixon as she nodded at him thanking him for the praise. Begovic then ran up with her medical kit already out as she worked to apply bandages and powder to the wound. The powdered burned more than the wound causing Ruiz to flinch as she scolded him for it.

"Hold still or I'll mess up!" she shouted as she held his arm forcefully in place to fix it.

"Oh yeah! Why don't you get shot and tell me it doesn't hurt!" he fired back as he winced in pain while she tightened the bandages.

"There you go little boy. And I'd rather not get shot at all. Look the UFO is behind the cliff the alien took cover behind." she said as she pointed over his shoulder to prove her point.

"Squad follow us!" she said as her and Manuel started moving forward with Ikeda not far behind. They were joined by Cesar, Fitzpatrick, and Rivera as they had gone around the right side of the cliff-like structures as they prepared to commence the two-pronged assault on the craft.

* * *

Androv moved to the cliff's right side as he looked around it carefully to spot two of the gray skinned creatures behind it. The one with the blue shirt they'd already encountered was on the right, while another one with a red shirt and looked to be carrying a plasma pistol and some research equipment was on the left. Before he could do anything else, the two started bolting to his right as he shouted out in surprise as he prepared to raise his rifle. But, before he could fire both aliens dropped simultaneously to the ground courtesy of bullets from a light machine gun and an assault rifle. The blue shirt wearing one was torn to pieces thanks to the machine gun bullets from Dixon, while the red shirt wearing one was dispatched by Martín's rifle rounds.

"Thank you for the assist comrades, but we still have a mission to complete." said Androv as he admitted to them that maybe they weren't so bad as he previously thought.

"You got that right mate!" exclaimed Dixon as he shouldered his machine gun.

"You three sweep up that way towards those other cliffs then swing to the right. It sounds as though the others have found the UFO if that shouting from Begovic was any indication. I'll try and meet up with them before they take all the fun." ordered Martín as he scurried off while the other three advanced cautiously with Androv on point, Dixon in the middle, and Brandis bringing up the rear. They experienced no other contact as they reached their destination and then headed over to the craft.

* * *

The other two groups were literally a few feet from the craft's door with Ruiz, Begovic, and Ikeda on the left side while Fitzpatrick, Cesar and Rivera were on the right side. They all toke a moment to analyze the craft which was gray in color, and was shaped like a smaller version of the Millennium Falcon from the recently released Star Wars™ film, but it was still bigger than a commercial airliner. The front part of the craft was completely engulfed in flames as black smoke billowed from it as portions of it continued to burn thanks to the dry air of the desert. Before any of them could think on it further, another blue shirted alien burst through the door and opened fire on Ruiz who was too slow to react which resulted in two plasma bolts tearing open his chest cavity as he was dead before hitting the ground. The squad then opened fire sans Rivera who was too close to be of any use with her Sniper rifle.

Begovic's shot missed the creature, while Cesar managed to hit it in the abdomen. Fitzpatrick then fired off two more rounds that ripped the alien's neck open as it fell to the ground clutching it's throat and eventually stopped moving. Ikeda's shot went into the UFO as she saw something moving inside still, but the door shut quickly causing it to ricochet off of it and into the sand.

Looking upon the now dead Ruiz, Begovic charged through the door and ran into the UFO looking to kill the threat still inside, but was met with three plasma rounds to the stomach and legs which caused her to fall backwards from the force of the shots. Looking inside, the team noticed another lizard creature's body and redshirt gray alien lying dead from wound sustained in the crash, while another blue shirt wearing alien was holding a still smoking plasma rifle as it looked at the now struggling Begovic on the ground. Looking up it was met with three rounds from Cesar that quickly tore apart it's head as it fell backwards dead.

The squad moved quickly as they pulled Begovic out of the burning UFO and started to apply first aid to her, as the rest of the squad showed up on the scene. Martín ran over and cradled Ruiz's dead body as he mourned his dead friend, while Dixon, Androv, and Brandis could only look on in sadness as they watched the efforts of Ikeda and Rivera to help the struggling Begovic to live.

"It really does hurt! Momma!" she cried out as the two continued to work on the wounds, but it was for not as she eventually stopped struggling and there was nothing but silence from the others as they mourned their fallen comrades.

Seeing as Martín was still recovering from his friend's death, Brandis took charge and gave them their orders.

"We still have a job to do guys, as much as we want to stop and mourn our friends. Martín take Ruiz's body back to the ship, Androv do the same with Begovic's. Dixon and Fitzpatrick gather up the alien corpses on the battlefield and do the same. Ikeda and Rivera go in there and see if you can find anything of value to bring back with us to base. Cesar and I will gather up the bodies inside and we'll radio command to see what they want to do with the UFO. Let's move!" he ordered as the squad moved out reluctantly to finish the job they'd been assigned.

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The Commander wasn't pleased with what had happened as he'd lost two soldiers in the battle. But he was somewhat satisfied that a message had been sent to the aliens proving that humanity could and would still fight. He then asked the Research head what he wanted to do with the UFO and he requested that they leave a coordinate beacon and they'd send another ship in to collect it. Following that, he looked over the available soldiers and selected two more to fill the gaps that had now been made with the deaths of Ruiz and Begovic.

 _'The first stone has been cast. Now how will the aliens respond to the new threat posed against them?'_ he thought as he finished the paperwork associated with his requests.

* * *

 **AN: And cut! That's a wrap on this chapter. Hope everybody loved it, and if you have any comments or criticism don't be afraid to leave a review or PM me about it. If you like the story don't be afraid to follow and favorite so you can be up to date on when I post new content. Also, the name Sandtrap was a homage to "The Xenonaut Project" as that was his base's name as well. Also, come check out my other stories if you want to read more XCOM or jump into the world of Charlie Brown as he makes his way through the Major Leagues. Well that'll do it for this installment, this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **\- PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	2. The Frozen Tundra

**AN: Hey everybody, it's The Nasty One here again and it's time for another chapter in the saga of the Xenonauts fight against the alien invaders. I wonder what will happen this time out? Let's find out.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Frozen Tundra**

The squad returned later in the morning with two less living members than originally left the base earlier. The two bodies were taken to the living quarters where they were prepped for a casket and were scheduled to be shipped back to their families the next day. The rest of the squad went back to their living areas and got their uniforms off before catching up on some much needed rest.

Later on in the day, the head of the research team came by the Commander's office to drop off their reports on the Alien Invasion thus far. The report was very disparaging as they reported thousands of UFOs in orbit around the atmosphere of various sizes which indicated a very long and arduous task of defense ahead. The head researcher left him with a promising note that his team would be working on drawing up schematics for a faster Interceptor as well as researching the alien crew's bodies that were recovered from the first UFO. They also would look at the UFO's datacore to find out more information on the first UFO's purpose in the grand scheme of things.

* * *

== A Few Hours Later ==

The head of the research team returned with the team's reports on the Aliens and UFO that the team encountered yesterday. The Sebillian Autopsy provided no new information that they didn't know from the Iceland incidents. The creatures were massive compared to humans and still had the ability to regenerate from life-threatening wounds and fake their deaths to get their targets to let their guard down and kill them.

The Caesan Autopsy was more informative as the aliens were very similar to Humans in skeletal structure and anatomy to humans. They require less force to fracture their bones and rupture their organs due to their exposure to a low gravity environment for a considerable amount of time. They have a surprisingly larger brain than humans indicating their higher than normal IQ and a greatly atrophied set of vocal chords. This led the researchers to lean into a possible telepathic link between them as their vocal chords are entirely useless. The possibility to continue researching them definitely excited the team as a whole.

Moving on to the UFO they encountered, the team had recovered the hull and managed to get it onto the Skyranger making it quite cramped, but they managed. The team identified that the UFO was nothing more than a probe for the alien forces it appeared. The craft had little to no weaponry to speak of and as a result would be no match for one Condor on its own. This evidence indicated that the UFO was nothing more than to conduct scouting missions for the aliens to better understand how to combat our forces while they saved their bigger ships for later. With this new information the Commander dismissed the researcher so he could better prepare a strategy for the battles that would surely come.

* * *

== Four Days Later ==

The past few days had been rather exciting for the base as more personnel arrived at the base on the fourth and sixth. On the fourth five additional scientists arrived and were immediately assigned to help the team continue work on their new Interceptor schematics that would be done before the end of the week. Also arriving on the fourth were the first five soldiers the Commander requested before the squad's first mission which led to another two being requested that arrived on the sixth. Of these five, two of the soldiers were selected to fill the holes on the Skyranger.

Also on the sixth, the workers finished construction on the new Living Quarters which provided enough room for forty more personnel to be housed comfortably. With that finished, this batch of workers began work on an extra Workshop and Laboratory so more Scientists and Engineers could be requested from the various sponsoring nations.

With the workers given their new assignments, there was nothing else really happening around the base. The Commander and Radar were both in his office enjoying an evening drink together chatting about their home lives. Radar of course still being underage was having a cold glass of Dr. Pepper® while the Commander was having a whiskey on the rocks. All of a sudden Radar sat up and looked at the roof.

"We've got an Incoming UFO, sir!" he exclaimed. And sure enough after he said that the alarm went off indicating another UFO contact picked up. The Commander could only down his glass before grabbing his uniform coat to head down there with him.

"One of these days I'm going to find out how you do that Radar." he said as the two exited his office towards the Radar Array.

"That's what everyone says sir."

"I'll bet."

The conversation died out there as the two arrived at the room where one of the other technicians turned the station over to Radar so he could decipher the UFO's details. The process itself took all of about five minutes, as Radar was very quick with these things.

"Sir, the UFO is the same size as the first one we shot down. I've also determined that it's at an altitude of 1600 M, and that its moving at 1400 KM/H in a Eastern direction. What are your orders?"

"Dispatch Condor 2 so he can get some practice in UFO tracking. I want the Skyranger prepped and ready to go within two hours."

"Yes sir." replied Radar as he moved to the Intercom.

"Sgt. Watkins you're being dispatched to intercept our recent UFO contact, be prepared to launch in ten minutes. Charlie-1 gear up and report to the Skyranger. You'll be launched once the UFO has crashed or lands."

Condor 2, piloted by Sgt. Tony Watkins under the callsign "Destroyer" launched and began a chase of the UFO across the icy northern region of Europe that lasted into the wee hours of the morning where it crashed after suffering significant missile damage around 5:00 AM. Charlie-1 was dispatched soon after and arrived at the crash site a little over three and a half hours later at 8:39 AM.

* * *

== On the Skyranger ==

The soldiers on board the Skyranger were in the same seats as last time, but with the substitution of two of the newly arrived seven rookies to replace the deaths of Begovic and Ruiz. Sitting in Begovic's old spot at the head of the Skyranger's left side as the new Scout was Pvt. Marcus Oliveira, while in Ruiz's old spot was the new Assault soldier Pvt. Svetlana Tkachencko.

Oliveira hailed from Brazil and was thirty-five years of age which tied him as being one of the oldest members of the squad along with Ikeda and Martín (not Alexis, but Cesar). Oliveira came from the Brazilian's Comandos Anfibios unit and had combat experience in the Araguaia War. He stood at 6' 1'' with short spiky blonde hair and carried the same gear as the other Riflemen including the M16 Assault Rifle.

Tkachenko as her name suggested hails from the Soviet Union just like Androv and was thirty-four years old. She was a part of Group Alfa in the Soviet Military and had seen action during the Sino-Soviet Border conflict. She stood at 5' 11'' and had brown hair that reached the base of her neck, and a lone bang that hung down right between her brown eyes. She carried the same equipment as Ruiz did last mission, with the exception of having an AK-47 instead of the Shotgun. Reason for that was she couldn't aim as well with the Shotgun, and preferred a Soviet-made weapon due to her familiarity with it.

The squad was currently discussing the mission parameters as well as trying to get to know their new comrades.

"Hey Marcus! What's your story?" asked Martín trying to get to know his fellow Scout.

"I grew up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, I saw all the poverty around me and knew that I wanted to get away from all of this and try to have a future for myself. So I chose to join the military and I haven't looked back." replied Oliveira which got a nod and a smile from Martín.

Next to Martín, Alexis was having less success with Tkachenko.

"Svetlana, I'm just curious about your past. I'm not trying to hit on you or anything." said Alexis defensively as Tkachenko looked at him in disdain and snorted before answering.

"You wish NATO dog. I don't trust any of you yet. Just because we're uneasy allies against this alien menace, doesn't mean I'll just give up my personal life to you or anyone else for that matter."

"Fair enough. Try not to die out there." said Alexis as he ended the conversation and got the squad's attention before she could reply.

"Alright listen up. It's the same mission as last time, except this time we're touching down in the northern most part of Europe which is a small island off the coast of Norway with no name. We're expecting a Frozen Tundra/forest landing area so I hope you dressed warmly. When we land, Martín and Oliveira will go down the ramp and scout the forward area, with Ikeda as backup. Tkachenko, Dixon, Fitzpatrick, and myself with scout the right side of the Skyranger, while Androv, Brandis, and Ramirez will take the left side and rear of the Skyranger. Any questions?"

Receiving nothing but headshakes, he motioned for them to lock and load while simultaneously smacking the back of Fitzpatrick's head to wake him up from his alcohol induced slumber.

"Ow! What the hell Alexis! Can't you see I'm hungover!"

"Yes, but we're on a mission so sober up quickly and get the plan from one of the others cause I'm not repeating myself."

The Irishman nodded albeit very gingerly to stop the splitting headache he was starting to feel. Thankfully Dixon brought some coffee that the Irishman quickly drank down and got the info from the Aussie simultaneously.

 _'His drinking is going to get someone killed if he keeps it up. I just hope it's not today.'_

With that thought, the Skyranger began the touchdown onto the snow covered Earth below them as the mission was underway.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

With the ramp descending, Martín and Oliveira both rushed out and looked over the area in front of them and to their sides. Seeing nothing of immediate concern, Oliveira rushed forward to a cluster of Evergreen trees in the middle of a clearing and took cover behind them. Martín, noticed the ocean to his northeast, so he moved along the icy shore to a pile of rocks that provided decent cover he could crouch behind while scouting the area to the Skyranger's right before any of his squad rushed to their deaths. Peeking over the rocks, he noticed a Sebillian standing in the middle of a forest clearing staring right into the Skyranger's open right exit.

"Contact! I've got a Sebillian right outside of the right door!" shouted Martín into his radio as he fired off a shot that landed by the alien's right foot and got his attention. As the alien looked over, Fitzpatrick crouched down in the Skyranger's door and let loose a barrage of three shots, two of which struck the alien in the head and blew its head off effectively killing it as it fell to the snowy ground.

"Threat neutralized mate." said Fitzpatrick.

"Everyone advance cautiously." said Alexis as Tkachenko and Dixon both moved out the front of the Skyranger and behind the tree cover the alien came from judging by its footprints. Alexis himself went along the shore past Martín and over to the trees bordering the ocean shore. He noticed a pillar of black smoke emerging from behind the trees where the UFO was. From his position he had a clear view of the UFO's door and could see that it had landed hard taking out quite a few trees when it skidded across the snowy ground.

"I have spotted the UFO behind the trees where you guys are. I'll bet that the highest concentration of aliens are in that area so use extreme caution and watch each other's backs out there."

At this point, Ikeda had linked up with Oliveira and were preparing to advance while the other three just exited the left side of the Skyranger with Androv on point followed closely by both Brandis and Rivera. The trio were preparing to secure the area behind the UFO when a new voice came over the radio.

"I think I see movement behind the trees in front of me." said a very nervous yet deep and nerdy voice belonging to Charlie-1's pilot Harold McGrady IV. He was a redheaded Canadian with tinted yellow glasses with square frames, dressed in a pair of green cargo pants and a blue shirt with a hamburger on it over top of a long sleeved red shirt, along with blue and white sneakers.

"Roger that Doris." said Androv with a chuckle about the Canadian's middle name.

"I told you to stop calling me that gosh."

"Nope ain't happening." said Androv as he picked around the side of the tree he was crouched behind to see another Sebillian near a mountainside and a cluster of trees. However, instead of firing at him, the alien fell back to just outside of his field of vision deeper into the forest and onto the other's right flank. At the same time another alien peeked out of the UFO and then walked out into the open ground before shutting the door behind it.

* * *

== With Ikeda and Oliveira ==

The two soldiers had managed to reach the other side of the little water lake that the ocean had flowed into and moved to another cluster of trees when Oliveira raised up his hand to stop them.

"Look ahead behind those trees." he said as he pointed towards his northwest and sure enough Ikeda saw one of the redshirt wearing Caesan with only a pistol on its right hip. It was busy taking what looked like samples of the trees and packaging them in vials that were being stored in a pouch on its left hip.

"Do you think they're studying our planet?" asked Ikeda who had remained silent until now.

"It's possible. Maybe they're debating about residing here after they invade us or maybe they're trying to figure out what resources the planet can offer them?" questioned Oliveira honestly confused about what the alien was doing. It was above his pay grade anyway to answer these questions which were better left for the Research team to answer.

"We should report this to Alexis and have him inform the Commander. He'll know what to do." said Ikeda as Oliveira agreed with her suggestion.

"Let's lay an ambush for it, since its more concerned with data collection than fighting." said Ikeda as the two hid on opposite sides of the grove of trees they were behind and waited to pincer the unsuspecting alien when it moved closer.

* * *

== With Androv, Brandis, and Rivera ==

Androv noticed a large tree in the middle of the field they were on the edge of and rushed towards it with the snow slowing him down a little bit. Turning to face forward he noticed the Sebillian that was on the squad's flank as he fired a shot at it that hit the small rock it was hiding behind. The tiny rocks that flew off at it didn't even faze it one bit.

Brandis and Rivera both took up positions behind Androv and against a cliff face that was behind them. The two lined up their shots and both fired simultaneously. Brandis' shot like Androv's hit the rock in front of the alien, but Rivera's hit it in the side as it was looking at the majority of the squad instead of them. It let lose a hiss of pain as it turned to face them and the others had a chance to move up and attack.

* * *

== With the Rest of the Squad ==

Martín moved first as he fired a shot off from behind the rocks that missed as it landed right in front of the alien's body. Alexis and Dixon both kept watch on the alien in front of the UFO, but didn't advance as they were trying to remain in cover. Tkachenko advanced to a giant rock in the middle of the snow covered field, but chose not to shoot as she figured the alien would charge forward and give her an easier shot. Fitzpatrick moved from the Skyranger door and moved behind a small tree as he wanted to shoot the alien, but a large Evergreen was blocking his line of sight so he chose to wait.

The alien recognizing its precarious position healed the majority of its side wound, before charging right at Fitzpatrick. Both Fitzpatrick and Tkachenko missed their shots, and the alien stopped a few feet from Fitzpatrick and fired its plasma rifle, but it missed as it went over Fitzpatrick's head thanks to his small size.

The alien by the door hearing the commotion ran back inside the UFO as Alexis fired at its retreating form, but his shot flew wide and bounced off the side of the UFO as another Sebillian replaced its cowardly companion and took cover behind the trees to the right of the UFO's door from Alexis' perspective.

* * *

== Back with Ikeda and Oliveira ==

The researcher had suddenly stopped its doings when it heard the gunfire and took off in a sprint to hide as it drew its pistol from its belt.

"Damn he ran. O well after him!" exclaimed Oliveira as he ran around the right side of their cover and hid behind another tree closer to the cluster that the alien headed for. Ikeda meanwhile took cover behind another tree further up on its own around the left side of the alien's cover.

* * *

== Back with the Others ==

Fitzpatrick and Tkachenko both opened up with three round bursts and missed all their shots as it kept the alien suppressed but did little else. Fitzpatrick then fired another round that reopened the alien's wound. However, Tkachenko was then forced to duck back behind her rock as a round came from behind her.

Hearing the commotion, Androv rushed forward and took cover behind the trees the alien rushed from and fired an errant round that hit behind the alien. Brandis and Rivera both ran around the trees and took cover next to the Skyranger's cockpit, but didn't fire as they had to realign their weapons to take a shot.

While this was happening, Alexis, Dixon, and Martín advanced closer to the UFO's entrance slightly ready to ambush any who charged at them.

The Sebillian recovered from the wound a bit, but couldn't move due to the suppression so it took a potshot that hit Fitzpatrick in his left shoulder.

"Wanker! Ah that stings! Don't worry I'll be fine!" he shouted as blood slowly left the burn wounds.

The alien who shot at Tkachenko advanced towards her slowly as she turned to combat the new threat. Meanwhile, the other alien that left the UFO peeked out from the trees, but Martín's rifle unleashed a bullet that forced it to duck back in behind cover as the fourth know alien opened the UFO door before quickly shutting it and hiding as Alexis and Dixon couldn't get a bead on it.

Tkachenko opened up on the new threat, but her three bullet spray missed the target, however her follow up shot suppressed the alien despite missing. With his head down, the others could focus on the one directly in front of Fitzpatrick. Rivera opened up on it first as it hit the alien center mass and opened its chest. Rafael followed it up by blowing the alien's chest completely open with his sniper rifle as it fell down lifeless to the ground.

Androv took this opportunity to move up to Tkachenko's right as he opened up on the alien with a shot that did some serious damage to the alien's head but didn't kill it. Fitzpatrick recovered from the light wound by rubbing some snow on it, before advancing to Tkachenko's left and put a three round burst that all made contact with the alien's head turning it into mincemeat as it also fell to the ground dead.

Standing in disbelief, Tkachenko looked to them both and thanked them with a nod while Androv and Fitzpatrick high-fived at their combined takedown of their foe. Looking back the three nodded to the two snipers who waved in return before the group advanced to the UFO's right through the trees.

* * *

== Back with Alexis, Martín, and Dixon ==

The three advanced cautiously again, as the UFO's door suddenly opened and they reacted accordingly. Alexis unleashed a three round burst that hit the cowardly alien twice, while both of Martín's bullets hit the tree right in front of the UFO and destroyed some branches. Dixon unleashed a five round burst that completely tore the tree apart frightening the alien enough to quickly shut the door again. With nothing left to do, the three patiently waited for him as if they were playing a game of whack-a-mole.

Alexis took a step forward and spotted the Sebillian that Martín had shot at earlier. Without a second thought, he crouched down and unleashed a three round burst that struck the Sebillian in the back and destroyed his spinal cord. With nothing allowing him to breathe or move the Sebillian collapsed and suffocated to death with his face in the snow.

Martín passed Alexis and tapped the back of his head in congrats before reaching the door as it opened again and the Sebillian was met with a point blank M16 round to its temple as it fell down lifeless. Looking around, Martín saw nothing moving and signaled that the UFO was clear.

* * *

== A Few Moments Earlier with Ikeda and Oliveira ==

The two charged towards the trees as Ikeda rounded the left side of it and spooked the hell out of the non-combatant Caesan as he tried running towards the right side of the cover. Unfortunately for him, Oliveira was right there waiting as a three round burst quickly destroyed the alien's chest and heart as he fell forward with his running momentum and landed lifelessly to the ground. With nothing else near them, the two were going to advance towards the craft in a sprint, but the all clear over the radio had them slow their pace as they walked towards the craft to meet up with the others.

* * *

== After Regrouping ==

With the entire squad back together, Ikeda went about looking over Fitzpatrick's minor shoulder wound, while the others gathered up anything of use from the UFO while destroying the corpses and items that were of no use to the Research team. Dixon even set up some demolition charges that were left on the Skyranger to set up a little display for when they would be departing. The whole process took a couple of hours, but as the Skyranger left with the full squad, UFO Datacore, and the alien weapons and ammo and some alloys, Dixon pulled out the detonator and hit the plunger and the squad watched as the UFO went up in a combination of flames and explosions as the squad cheered.

* * *

 **AN: And that's a wrap on another chapter as the squad successfully secured their second crash site without a casualty. Will their luck hold out moving forward? Only time will tell. Don't forgot to leave a review and favorite if you enjoy the story. Later! This is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **-PRAK #TheNastyOne**


	3. A Brush With Death

**AN: FINALLLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO UPDATE THIS STORY! Hope you guys are enjoying what you've been reading. Any way I'm back with the next update to this story. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Chapter 3: A Brush With Death**

* * *

== Back at Base ==

The squad returned to base after another successful mission as the base congratulated them on their performance. Fitzpatrick was sent to the still incomplete Medical Center where he had his wound looked at by the on-site physician. The doctor stitched it up and said that the burning pain would linger for a few days, but he'd be able to head back out into the field after about five days of light usage of his arm.

The Commander had pulled aside two members of the squad before they could leave the hangar to award them their new promotions for their individual successes. Tkachenko was promoted to Corporal for her ability to distract the enemy long enough and keep him suppressed until backup arrived to pick up the kill. Tkachenko was thrilled that she was being promoted to a slightly better rank and pay grade, but she felt as if she hadn't truly earned it because she still had yet to make her first kill. The other member of the squad receiving a promotion was Martín as he was now promoted to Sergeant due to his accurate scouting information and kills on the first two missions. Cesar was ecstatic at the news and quickly headed back to his quarters so he could sew his new stripes onto his uniform. The Commander also made sure to change the uniforms so that way the name tags on his and Alexis' uniform read C. Martín and A. Martín respectively.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

The research for the faster and agile new Foxtrot aircraft was completed by the Research team by mid afternoon. With that out of the way, the team began focusing on the Alien Plasma Pistol to try and see how different they were from conventional weaponry. Maybe a better understanding of the weapon would lead into a way to counteract it so it didn't harm as many troops as it had back during the Iceland Incident.

Now with the schematics for the project, the Engineers could begin work on building the new aircraft so it could fill the fourth hangar spot that had remained empty since being built. The large Russian in charge of the team had been extremely happy to hear that his coworkers were finally getting something to do. They were becoming plenty bored of doing nothing but building facilities instead of actual field items/weaponry. With that task now in the capable hands of the grease monkeys, the Commander focused his efforts on finding another pilot to take control of the Foxtrot.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

More good news awaited the Commander as the base personnel had finished constructing a majority of the facilities he'd requested ten days ago. These facilities included another Radar Array to expand the coverage of the current system, a Medical Center to help the soldiers' wounds heal faster, and a Missile Battery to help defend the base should the aliens ever decided to launch an attack on the base. It seemed things were going to remain peaceful for the rest of the day, but that was changed by the sounding of the alarm as a new contact was found.

"What's the skinny Radar?"

"Same as the last two bogeys Commander; Small in size, holding steady at 1600 M altitude, heading in a Eastern direction at 1400 KM/H." listed off Radar as if it was just business as usual.

"Where at?"

"Currently over Western Africa, sir."

 _'Africa huh. What could they possibly want in Africa?'_

"Send out 'Spitfire' and see if we can get another target for the boys to assault."

"Roger that sir." responded Radar as the call went out for Jensen to get airborne.

* * *

== Four Hours Later ==

The chase had been on as once Jensen spotted the UFO it took off trying to escape him as it first headed towards Central Africa before making a beeline back towards the western coast. The chase took them out over the Atlantic Ocean as Jensen started to run low on fuel.

"Sir, I'm almost in targeting range. What are your orders because it doesn't appear that this one is heading back to land?" asked Spitfire over the radio.

"Take him down there's no way it'll hang around once you turn back due to fuel concerns."

"Roger that sir, locking on." as he waited for the targeting mechanism to lock on fully, he noticed that the UFO's engines were putting out more flames and fuel as they appeared to be getting ready to take off to parts unknown.

"Sir! It's preparing to make a jump out of the atmosphere if the engine output is anything to go off of!" exclaimed Spitfire as his computer was finally locked.

"TAKE IT DOWN NOW! Don't let it escape!" shouted the Commander as he clenched his right hand until it started to turn white.

Jensen didn't need to be told twice as he flicked open the screen protecting his firing button before launching both of his missiles at the craft.

"FOX 3!" he shouted as the missiles struck the craft as it violently changed paths and headed into the ocean. Once the UFO made contact it exploded into tiny pieces leaving no hope of salvage or survival for its occupants.

"Bogey has been splashed returning to base." said Jensen as his fuel warning light came on.

"Roger that Spitfire. Over and out." acknowledged the Commander as he turned to deliver the news and released the breath he'd been holding.

"The UFO is down with no survivors in the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing left to salvage so we will not be sending anybody to get the wreckage. Time of confirmed kill 11:06 PM." said the Commander as the rest of the occupants cheered at the good news.

 _'Another one bites the dust.'_ thought the Commander as he joined in the celebration as it was difficult to not indulge a little bit.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

The Engineering team reported a successful completion of the Foxtrot construction as the new plane was waiting in the previously empty fourth hangar. The Russian had beamed with pride as everyone took in the site of the new aircraft as it was the best work he'd himself had done in his life. Along with his new aircraft, the new pilot for it had arrived and immersed himself in the simulator to get a feel for how much faster it was compared to the Condors. The pilot's name was one Robert Levandowski from Baltimore MD, USA under the callsign "Flash" which ironically matched his new plane to a t.

* * *

== One Day Later ==

The Research team had finished analyzing the alien Plasma Pistol and noted that it was far deadlier than any weapon mankind had in existence as it easily melted clothing and flesh. With a better understanding of how dangerous these weapons really were, the Commander decided to follow the Lead Researcher's suggestion of Improved Combat Armor. With these blueprints, then the Engineering team could start on manufacturing armor that could save many more lives of the brave men and women who'd face down the alien threat.

* * *

== Two Days Later ==

The last two facilities the Commander had requested were now done being constructed as he finally had given the Research and Engineering teams a second facility to complete their work. This would allow him to request more members for each team so that their work could be completed much faster.

The Commander was still enjoying his early morning coffee, when the alarm once again went off as he grabbed it and hustled to the Radar Array to see Radar already awaiting him.

 _'I swear this kid practically lives here. But, it's nice to see such dedication in someone so young. He has a bright future ahead of him.'_

"Same as the last three Radar?"

"Yes sir, it's currently over Eastern Europe."

"Send out Flash and Destroyer as backup. I want him to have somebody with him in case something goes wrong."

"Roger that sir." said Radar as he made the call and the two aircraft headed towards the fourth contact.

* * *

== Ten Minutes Later ==

The two men were watching the screen when all of a sudden Radar twitched.

"You okay Radar."

"We're about to have another contact sir."

"Are you sure..." the rest of the Commander's response was cut off as the alarm sounded again as another blip appeared on the map over Northwest Africa.

"How the hell do you do that Radar!?" said the Commander who was utterly flabbergasted by the event that just transpired.

"Trade secret sir. This UFO is the same as the other four, orders?"

"Just send up Spitfire since the others won't have enough fuel to combat this threat as well." said the Commander as he shook his head at his colleague's typical answer regarding his gift.

"Right away Commander."

The first contact tried to escape through the Middle East, but the Squadron hunted it down and Flash got his first kill as the UFO crash-landed into the Iranian desert. Not believing that the other UFO would be caught before it escaped, the Commander ordered Charlie-1 to investigate the site. They would arrive at 1:33 PM some four hours after the UFO crashed.

The other UFO looked like it would escape over the Atlantic Ocean, but it suddenly made a u-turn and attempted to gun down Spitfire. But he managed to dodge the incoming missiles and shot the UFO down on the Senegal coast. However, seeing as Charlie-1 was almost to the first crash site, there was no point in having them do two back to back missions, especially since the second one would be at night. With no other choice, the Commander had local military forces airstrike the crash site to destroy any alien opposition as well as destroy the UFO. Their efforts got them rewarded with $15,000 dollars from the Council of Nations.

* * *

== On the Ground ==

Harold flew the Skyranger into the industrial area and landed just to the west of a main road. Opening the ramp, the soldiers got a clear view of a small cluster of trees that was a few hundred yards from the aircraft. The road was littered with abandoned cars with their hazards on and doors left ajar as if they'd been abandoned in a hurry. On the other side appeared to be a wooded area that resembled a small forest. The squad wasn't able to view anymore of the battlefield as a Sebillian burst from the forest in front of the ramp and opened fire on the squad.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!" shouted Martín as plasma rounds flew over the squad's heads.

"What's going on guys?" asked Harold as he poked his head through the cockpit door only to have a plasma bolt impact next to head in the wall above Rivera's position.

"Doris close the door and keep your head down!" shouted Aronov as he moved out the left exit of the aircraft.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" exclaimed Harold as he slammed the door and took cover as another bolt punched through the door and hit the ground where he was just standing. Thankfully, he had dove to his right and other than a bruised shoulder from his landing he was unscathed.

"Somebody get some fire on him so we can move!" shouted Alexis as so far only Aronov had gotten out of the ambush trap.

"I'm on it laddy!" shouted Fitzpatrick as he moved out the right exit of the aircraft and took cover against the side of it. Analyzing the distance, Fitzpatrick cranked off a shot with his M16 that struck the lizard in the left shoulder causing him to stop firing.

"You should be freed up to move!" shouted the Irishman as Rivera exited the door and stood next to Fitzpatrick and raised her sniper rifle and unleashed another shot that hit the lizard in the chest and opened a wound that slowly began to close itself.

"He should be distracted enough to move up and kill him." said Rivera.

Tkachenko took the initiative and charged forward to a large rock that was approximately 100 yards from the alien's position and opened fire with her AK-47. The shot struck just at the alien's feet, as the alien returned fire with multiple shots that lit up the area around Tkachencko's rock. She went to fire another round but found that her gun had jammed.

"Shit! Somebody take him out my gun's jammed!"

"Hit the deck Svetlana! I'll knock this bloke down a peg!" exclaimed Dixon as he crouched down at the very end of the Skyranger's ramp. Hearing the shout of the Aussie, Svetlana hit the deck and made herself as small as possible as six shots came whizzing by and impacted the alien in his chest sending him falling back towards the Earth as the life faded from his reptilian eyes.

"Enemy down." said Dixon as Alexis stepped up and motioned for the rest of the squad to move up and investigate the area.

Oliveira moved first and ran to the edge of the tree cluster and took cover behind a power converter and peeked over, spotting two Caesans wearing blue shirts on the opposite side of the road. One was standing next to a set of construction pipes, while the other was standing in the middle of the road. Neither alien could see him thanks to the sheer size of the converter which shielded him entirely from view.

"I've got two contacts in my sight. One's on the other side of the road, and the second is standing right in the center of it."

"Roger that Marcus. Everyone move up carefully, only engage if you have a clear shot. I don't want any unnecessary risks." said Alexis as he moved into the cluster of trees followed by Martín. Ikeda and Brandis both exited behind Aronov and moved behind some concrete barriers that bordered the roadway and both observed the alien across the road, but couldn't hit the one that was in the middle of the street as the converter was blocking their shots.

Brandis balanced his MSG90 on the barrier before rattling off a shot that struck the alien between the eyes as he fell back to the ground lifeless as the other one went on high alert.

The Caesan advanced down the street towards the Xenonauts, but instead of firing at them, someone else caught its eye. Two civilians had advanced into the street after hearing the gunfire and were seeking refuge with the Xenonauts. The alien raised its rifle and fired a shot at them.

Instead of hitting either of the two men that were there, one dove back behind the bus while the other ran towards the Xenonauts and was escorted into the ship where Harold could look after him until the mission was over.

Ikeda fired her M16 and hit the alien in the arm causing him to drop his rifle so he couldn't fire off anymore shots. With that threat taken care of, Aronov and Oliveira fired off short bursts, but couldn't connect with the target. Brandis by this time had moved closer to the fight beside Aronov and lined up his shot which once again connected with the human look-alike's forehead registering his second kill of the mission. Not seeing any more immediate threats, the group split up to cover more ground to find the UFO.

* * *

== With Group 1 (Alexis, Martín, Tkachenko, Fitzpatrick, and Rivera) ==

The group of five members had met up in the middle of the tree cluster and began the slow push out of the cover into an open area. From here they could see the UFO that was at the end of the main road blocking any cars from heading into the next town. The UFO had crashed hard and had a wall of flames that were engulfing the area to the UFO's immediate right and its right side. The Caesan that had been spotted earlier saw the Xenonauts setting up behind the concrete barriers on its flank and turned towards the UFO and shouted something in its language as the door opened from the inside revealing a redshirt Caesan. The blue-shirted Caesan ran inside as the door was quickly shut to prevent any incoming fire from the humans. With no other targets the group set up their weapons and got ready to rain down hell on anybody who would try to rush their position.

* * *

== With Group 2 (Dixon, Oliveira, Aronov, Brandis, and Ikeda) ==

The second group was moving across the road as they reached the median dividing the two road halves. The median itself was a fenced off sidewalk that had tears in the chain-link fence that were big enough to fit a human through. Ikeda and Aronov both crossed through first and took cover behind the front of the bus the civilian hid behind before. They saw said civilian run deeper into the woods in front of them, clearly spooked by something. What it was they had no idea.

Rafael went next as he took cover behind a salmon colored four door sedan. Oliveira was next as he took cover behind the guardrail immediately past the fence. Dixon was about to step through when a plasma shot hit him in his right shoulder sending him tumbling backwards behind the construction pipes.

"Dixon are you okay!?" asked Oliveira as he and Brandis took reaction shots that missed the creature entirely.

Instead of a response, Oliveira was treated to the sound of ten bullets flying past his head. Most of them missed the target, but one managed to hit the alien in the lower abdomen which caused him to duck down to try and avoid more injuries.

"Yeah it's just a scratch mate. Take him down while I patch myself up." said Dixon as he pulled the medical kit out of his backpack to provide a temporary fix for his injury.

Oliveira moved up behind the front of a second bus as he opened up three rounds that kept the alien pinned in his foliage cover. Brandis followed up with a sniper shot that just missed the alien as it impacted right in front of it sending dirt up into its eyes. This caused the alien to inadvertently stand up and gave Aronov the chance to kill him with a headshot from his AK-47. The sound of an alien shriek was the only sound as the group decided to split up once more with Dixon, Oliveira and Brandis heading towards the UFO, while Ikeda and Aronov moved to clear out the forest.

* * *

== Back with Group 1 ==

The group made its way to the concrete barriers and set up an overwatch trap for any aliens that would be dumb enough to come charging at their position. The squad lined themselves up with Rivera, Martín, Fitzpatrick, and Tkachenko all with their guns perched on the wall, while Alexis moved closer to the UFO behind a pallet of tethered oil drums. Alexis then turned his back to the UFO as he addressed his assembled fire team.

"Alright guys don't fire until they're at my position, they have a general idea of where we are but that doesn't mean we still can't surprise them. We..." he suddenly stopped when he heard footsteps and an alien cry coming from behind him.

"It's behind me isn't it?" he asked as the others nodded slowly.

"When should I...?" he was again cut off by a shout from Martín.

"DUCK!" he cried as the alien fired a pistol shot that went over Alexis' head as he dropped to the ground with his hands shielding his head.

Rivera fired first, but she was taking great care to not hit Alexis and her shot was just wide. Fitzpatrick fired next and shot the redshirt Caesan's head in the dead center of its face with his M16. The alien inside the craft then ran forward to shut the door again and was successful as Martín's shots bounced harmlessly off of the door.

"Thank for the heads up guys." said Alexis as he picked himself up and dusted himself off before picking up his fallen M16.

"Now let's capture this UFO in the name of the Xenonauts!" he shouted as the door opened once more as a whole hail of fire erupted from the now eight man group as Dixon, Oliveira, and Brandis had joined them. The Caesan had no chance of surviving as in the end Martín claimed the kill as his bullets hit the alien in the heart area first before the rest of the group made his body into Swiss cheese.

"Well I guess that takes care of that." said Alexis as the group moved towards the UFO to gather up the Datacore from the craft when a shout was heard.

"MEDIC!" a female voice rang out as the others jumped at not only the volume but also the urgency of it.

"Shit that isn't good. Alright Svetlana secure the Datacore. Cian check on Dixon's wound. The rest of you with me! Let's move it people!" shouted Alexis as he led the charge into the wooded area where the two missing Xenonauts were last seen.

* * *

== A Few Minutes Earlier with Ikeda and Aronov ==

The twosome had agreed to check on the other civilian from earlier as the others headed off towards the UFO. They had been walking in silence until they came upon the civilian cowering behind a small tree right next to a bigger cluster of larger trees.

"I'll check the woods comrade. See what's wrong with him." said Aronov as he made his way deeper into the woods.

"Sir can you understand me?" asked Ikeda in a soft and angelic voice as the man nodded.

"What's got you so scared?" she asked as he man pointed to where Aronov just disappeared to and spoke in a shaky voice.

"One of those things...was standing over a deer's body with...a knife and it appeared to be...writing notes on a pad of some sort."

Ikeda's face shifted to one of panic as she shouted into the woods.

"Aronov it's a trap!" Her yell was quickly followed with a pistol shot as Aronov grunted in pain and started stumbling back towards her as she shouted at him to duck. It fell on deaf ears as the second shot missed, but the third one struck true as it burst through Aronov's chest and splattered Ikeda's face with his blood as he fell forward and stopped moving. A redshirt Caesan then emerged behind him as it moved to shoot Ikeda but she was faster than it, putting the alien down with a headshot as she rushed forward to check on Aronov. Finding a very weak pulse she pulled out her medical kit and started working on him as she shouted.

"MEDIC!"

The image of her working tirelessly to save him was the site the others arrived to as she looked at Alexis with an urgently serious look.

"He needs immediate medical attention or else he's going to die. I've stabilized him as best I can with this kit."

"Excellent work Miyu! Marcus, Rafael carry Andrey back to the Skyranger we're leaving immediately, the Research team can handle corpse disposal and UFO destruction!"

"Roger that." said the two as they shouldered their weapons and picked up Aronov with a makeshift stretcher as the civilian joined them in their sprint back to the Skyranger so he could get the hell away from here.

"Harold! Get those blades spinning I want an immediate evacuation from this site, we have a critically injured soldier!"

"On it Alexis! Wheels up in two!" shouted the lazy voice of McGrady as the squad reached the craft shortly and they began the urgent trip back to Sandtrap to hopefully save Aronov's life.

* * *

 **AN: And cut! That's a wrap on this chapter as we see another successful mission from the Xenonauts crew despite the unknown state of Aronov. Will he survive? Will the project continue to thrive against the alien forces? Find out next time on "Xenonauts Rise"! Also, I'd like to give a quick shout out** **to Forte De Tu for favoriting the story. Don't forget to read and review as it encourages me to keep making material for my stories. With nothing else to say, this is "The Nasty One" signing off.**

 **\- PRAK #TheNastyOne**


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